Okay, first of all, this isn't "official" PQA. It's more along the lines of getting the kids used to answering and volunteering.
I am in chapter 2 of LICT. My words were "he is walking in the street" "the cow is happy", and "he is sleeping in the street".
I start out by having the students draw a 6-frame cartoon on the top half of their paper and then numbering 1-6 below the box. I start by drawing a cow in the first box. Then I get my victim cards. I ask some questions whole class--Class, what is in the cartoon? A cow. Is the cow happy? etc. Then I go to a victim. One by one, I ask the following questions to victims--one question per victim. What is the cow's name? Where is the cow (I give them lots of examples from the place cards that are around the room--the city, the country, the store, etc)? What is the cow doing (easy--look at the vocab list--walking. Is the cow walking in the street?
We go to the second frame and I draw the cow with a thought bubble. Victim cards:, what does the cow want? A friend (these are the answers that were given). Does the cow have a friend? Yes. Is it a giraffe or a burro? A burro. Draw a burro in the thought bubble.
Next frame. Where does the cow go? To the burro's house. Where does the burro live? In the country (notice that there was nothing in the frame--they are filling it in). Where is the burro? In his house in the country. Draw it in.
Next frame. Where is the cow walking? (This is similar to the last frame. In the last frame, the cow began to walk. Now the burro walks to the house.) Where is the burro? He is sleeping. Where is he sleeping? In the street.
Next frame: the cow is beside the burro. What does the cow want? He wants a friend. Does he have a friend? Yes, the burro. Is there a problem? Yes, the burro is sleeping. What does the cow do? He says, "Hi burro" (talk bubble with Hola Burro).
Last frame: How does the cow feel now? Why? She is happy because she has a friend.
After this, I ask questions such as, Class, where is the cow? What is she doing? Where is she walking? etc. Then I go to the first frame and ask the students to work with their partners and write a minimum of one sentence per frame. Then I call on individual students to read their sentences. I write them down. Then I ask for volunteers to add on if they have something different. When that's done, I ask them to remember back when they did their placement writing sample. Remember when you said you couldn't write any Spanish at all? Wasn't that less than a month ago? See big smiles all around.
The thing that's nice about this is that it gives them ownership of the story, while at the same time allowing me to guide it. Plus, you get reading and writing and speaking all for the price of admission!
Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts
Thursday, September 12, 2013
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Writing--TPRS, non-tprs
I have been teaching for 20 years, and around 13 of them have been teaching Spanish using TPRS. For the first six years, I taught in a school where I was the department chair and had total control of the curriculum. This is how we did writing.
In first year, I didn't have the students write at all during the first semester. We concentrated on input, input and more input. After the first semester, I took out my pictures for timed writings.
I have a stack of pictures that I found in National Geographic and similar magazines. They are cut from the magazines and mounted on construction paper (8 1/2 x 11). I originally used them for ESL, but they worked equally well for my Spanish classes. I told the kids to write what they saw. It could be a list, sentences, or the story of the photo. I was the dictionary. Nothing was out of bounds. After they wrote, they did a word count. They wrote at their own pace--they did what they felt they could do, from word lists to sentences to simple stories to elaborate stories. I never checked their work for correctness. I expected x number of words (50 to start, going to 100 in 10 minutes for 1st year). If they hit the number, they got the grade. They didn't get extra credit for extra words, but they did lose points for not having enough--generally 1 point per 10 words.
As they got more familiar with the process, I started having them retell stories. They had been retelling the stories orally since about the second quarter (with all the help they needed), so it was an easy jump to start writing the retells. Again, they weren't expected to be grammatically correct. As long as I could understand the story, they got the grade.
Second year was more of the same. I never went to the 125 words in 5 minutes that others do, but I did go to 125 in 10 minutes. Again, I didn't ask them to be grammatically correct. This was exploratory writing. I did comment on their improvement, though.
In third year, they went to writing summaries, stories, and essays. Fourth year was more of the same.
In my new school, as I've said, we assess the students using a rubric. I have only taught second year, so that is all I can address.
I don't use the rubric at the beginning of the year. At the beginning of the year, I introduce the preterit and the imperfect discretely, but I try to do it in as painless a way as possible. I don't expect them, yet, to differentiate from each other, just from the present tense. We start the year by watching the movie "Cinco amigas", and there is lots of possibility both for description and for detailing events. Every time they write, they are to give me three descriptions about what the girls wore, what they looked like, how they felt, etc. The example sentence is in the imperfect. They are also to give me three sentences detailing what the girls did. It's interesting to me that students have trouble, at times, differentiating between an action and a feeling, but we keep working at it. The grading is simple. If they write in the past tenses, they get full points. If they write in the present tense, they lose points. They are always encouraged to come in and make up the points. I don't make a big deal of it, but it's a start--an introduction.
Later on, we begin to do retells. I'm not sure why, but I don't do as many retells as I used to (orally, that is). I've started a grading column for it, only so that i can remember to do it. But I do have them write a retell. I do this in several different ways. Sometimes I ask an oral story, retell it, and then have the kids make a cartoon and caption it. Credit for completion. Other times I will have them draw a story while I tell it to them, then I retell the story, then they use the storyboard to write the story. Completion grade.
Around September or so (we start the first week of August), the students begin reading, and they summarize the chapter that they've read. Completion grade.
In the second quarter, I introduce the ellos form and we continue that in writing. Before that, though, I start looking for correct use of pret and imperfect. That's all--just pret and imperfect. If they use the right tense but the wrong person (El chico fueron a la playa) they get credit. Basically, they're just exploring the difference between the two verbs. This isn't TPRS, but as I said earlier, I'm trying to build a feeling of confidence in them so they feel they can handle the rubric in the 3rd and 4th quarter.
As the second quarter progresses, I continue this type of writing. In the beginning of the third quarter, I also begin to show them (no reduction in grade) if their noun and modifier are out of synch. That's basically all I worry about. Then in late 3rd quarter, I introduce the rubric. I start off by telling them that the first writing establishes a base; they just need to work for improvement. After they get their papers back, they correct their work. We work on it together, and the students get a separate correction grade. This continues throughout the 3rd and 4th quarters.
I am always amazed at the writings that I get. The students do a fine job, and I'm proud of them. It gets better and better every year.
Okay, next week, back to stories. I hope.
In first year, I didn't have the students write at all during the first semester. We concentrated on input, input and more input. After the first semester, I took out my pictures for timed writings.
I have a stack of pictures that I found in National Geographic and similar magazines. They are cut from the magazines and mounted on construction paper (8 1/2 x 11). I originally used them for ESL, but they worked equally well for my Spanish classes. I told the kids to write what they saw. It could be a list, sentences, or the story of the photo. I was the dictionary. Nothing was out of bounds. After they wrote, they did a word count. They wrote at their own pace--they did what they felt they could do, from word lists to sentences to simple stories to elaborate stories. I never checked their work for correctness. I expected x number of words (50 to start, going to 100 in 10 minutes for 1st year). If they hit the number, they got the grade. They didn't get extra credit for extra words, but they did lose points for not having enough--generally 1 point per 10 words.
As they got more familiar with the process, I started having them retell stories. They had been retelling the stories orally since about the second quarter (with all the help they needed), so it was an easy jump to start writing the retells. Again, they weren't expected to be grammatically correct. As long as I could understand the story, they got the grade.
Second year was more of the same. I never went to the 125 words in 5 minutes that others do, but I did go to 125 in 10 minutes. Again, I didn't ask them to be grammatically correct. This was exploratory writing. I did comment on their improvement, though.
In third year, they went to writing summaries, stories, and essays. Fourth year was more of the same.
In my new school, as I've said, we assess the students using a rubric. I have only taught second year, so that is all I can address.
I don't use the rubric at the beginning of the year. At the beginning of the year, I introduce the preterit and the imperfect discretely, but I try to do it in as painless a way as possible. I don't expect them, yet, to differentiate from each other, just from the present tense. We start the year by watching the movie "Cinco amigas", and there is lots of possibility both for description and for detailing events. Every time they write, they are to give me three descriptions about what the girls wore, what they looked like, how they felt, etc. The example sentence is in the imperfect. They are also to give me three sentences detailing what the girls did. It's interesting to me that students have trouble, at times, differentiating between an action and a feeling, but we keep working at it. The grading is simple. If they write in the past tenses, they get full points. If they write in the present tense, they lose points. They are always encouraged to come in and make up the points. I don't make a big deal of it, but it's a start--an introduction.
Later on, we begin to do retells. I'm not sure why, but I don't do as many retells as I used to (orally, that is). I've started a grading column for it, only so that i can remember to do it. But I do have them write a retell. I do this in several different ways. Sometimes I ask an oral story, retell it, and then have the kids make a cartoon and caption it. Credit for completion. Other times I will have them draw a story while I tell it to them, then I retell the story, then they use the storyboard to write the story. Completion grade.
Around September or so (we start the first week of August), the students begin reading, and they summarize the chapter that they've read. Completion grade.
In the second quarter, I introduce the ellos form and we continue that in writing. Before that, though, I start looking for correct use of pret and imperfect. That's all--just pret and imperfect. If they use the right tense but the wrong person (El chico fueron a la playa) they get credit. Basically, they're just exploring the difference between the two verbs. This isn't TPRS, but as I said earlier, I'm trying to build a feeling of confidence in them so they feel they can handle the rubric in the 3rd and 4th quarter.
As the second quarter progresses, I continue this type of writing. In the beginning of the third quarter, I also begin to show them (no reduction in grade) if their noun and modifier are out of synch. That's basically all I worry about. Then in late 3rd quarter, I introduce the rubric. I start off by telling them that the first writing establishes a base; they just need to work for improvement. After they get their papers back, they correct their work. We work on it together, and the students get a separate correction grade. This continues throughout the 3rd and 4th quarters.
I am always amazed at the writings that I get. The students do a fine job, and I'm proud of them. It gets better and better every year.
Okay, next week, back to stories. I hope.
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Writing--how to help them understand (NOT TPRS)
Just a warning--I'm a TPRS teacher, yes, and I do believe in the system. However, when I started using a rubric for writing, the first few years were really really hard. Finally, I realized that the students really didn't know how to correct their papers. So I did two things--I started using examples to show what papers on the rubric looked like, and I made a list of common errors, numbered them, and put them on the students' work to help them.
First of all--the rubric. It is based on the AP rubric and is used in all classes--1-4AP. The rubric stays the same, but obviously the expectations change from level to level. In level 2, the students hope for a 4, 5, or 6. A 4 is a paper that is beginning to show elementary understanding of the language. A 5 shows good use of basic language, and a six shows excellent use of basic language.
I have the students write a paper (usually a retell of the story we just did orally or read) and then I grade it using the rubric. I go through it and mark the words that are wrong so that they can make corrections. I do this using a list of the most common errors. For example, if a student writes Las chica quiere va a la playa, I will correct it by underlining chica and putting a 2 over las, putting a 5 (imp) over quiere, and putting a 3 over va. This tells them what was wrong.
The list is as follows:
1: wrong person (tú va--should be vas)
2: problem with noun and its modifier (I know that there's more than that, but I say that for simplicity) el chica, etc.)
3. problem with infinitive: ( quiere habla--should be hablar. ) (sometimes they use nothing but infinitives, especially if they've transferred from a grammar-based program, and I'll do this: hablar: 3 pret (should be habló)
4. problem with DO, IO, or reflexive: (se habla--should be le habla)
5. problem with tense: I put what tense it should be, at least at the start.
Obviously, I don't give the students the hints in parenthesis--I just wanted to show you.
Yes, this is output. Yes, it takes time. But I do it because the school assesses based in part on the students' writing. If we are assessing something that is output based, then I want to see the students be as successful as possible. I don't really see much of a correlation between their acquisition and their writing. I know the one probably drastically affects the other, but I am doing this because if I am going to grade writing and they are going to be responsible for corrections (something that is done department-wide), I don't think it's fair for them not to have an idea of how to succeed.
Now I do want you to understand that I don't begin this at the beginning of the year. They do write all year long, but most of the time, all I'm doing is asking them to put thoughts on paper. It's only during the 3rd and 4th quarter that I start grading according to the rubric.
I know it's been a while since I've given you a story, and thanks for bearing with me (I mean one that I actually used for class). I plan to start that again next week when I have my whole class together every day instead of 1/3 gone one day, and so on.
Hope you are having a great week!
First of all--the rubric. It is based on the AP rubric and is used in all classes--1-4AP. The rubric stays the same, but obviously the expectations change from level to level. In level 2, the students hope for a 4, 5, or 6. A 4 is a paper that is beginning to show elementary understanding of the language. A 5 shows good use of basic language, and a six shows excellent use of basic language.
I have the students write a paper (usually a retell of the story we just did orally or read) and then I grade it using the rubric. I go through it and mark the words that are wrong so that they can make corrections. I do this using a list of the most common errors. For example, if a student writes Las chica quiere va a la playa, I will correct it by underlining chica and putting a 2 over las, putting a 5 (imp) over quiere, and putting a 3 over va. This tells them what was wrong.
The list is as follows:
1: wrong person (tú va--should be vas)
2: problem with noun and its modifier (I know that there's more than that, but I say that for simplicity) el chica, etc.)
3. problem with infinitive: ( quiere habla--should be hablar. ) (sometimes they use nothing but infinitives, especially if they've transferred from a grammar-based program, and I'll do this: hablar: 3 pret (should be habló)
4. problem with DO, IO, or reflexive: (se habla--should be le habla)
5. problem with tense: I put what tense it should be, at least at the start.
Obviously, I don't give the students the hints in parenthesis--I just wanted to show you.
Yes, this is output. Yes, it takes time. But I do it because the school assesses based in part on the students' writing. If we are assessing something that is output based, then I want to see the students be as successful as possible. I don't really see much of a correlation between their acquisition and their writing. I know the one probably drastically affects the other, but I am doing this because if I am going to grade writing and they are going to be responsible for corrections (something that is done department-wide), I don't think it's fair for them not to have an idea of how to succeed.
Now I do want you to understand that I don't begin this at the beginning of the year. They do write all year long, but most of the time, all I'm doing is asking them to put thoughts on paper. It's only during the 3rd and 4th quarter that I start grading according to the rubric.
I know it's been a while since I've given you a story, and thanks for bearing with me (I mean one that I actually used for class). I plan to start that again next week when I have my whole class together every day instead of 1/3 gone one day, and so on.
Hope you are having a great week!
Saturday, March 2, 2013
Week in review--sequence of events: emphasis on writing
This posts references the post "Going from PQA to oral story to written story".
I thought that you might like to see the sequence of events from PQA to oral story to written story to story that the students write. Some that are new might be interested.
Monday: I showed a video by +Deb Read, Chalkbrd.com. She makes videos in Spanish and French. This one was about her dog, Renny. It really had nothing to do with the vocab for the week, but it set up Tuesday's activity.
Tuesday: New vocab: sabe (hablar), tiene éxito, se pelea.
First I started by gesturing the words. I then asked students what sports they knew how to play. I have lots of football players, so I concentrated on them. I would find a football player and ask if they knew how to play (sabe jugar) their sport. Then I would ask if they knew how to speak their sport--I gave the example that everything has its own language. I know how to speak music (yo sé hablar la música) allegro, andante, moderato, etc. Once they get it, I asked them again. If they said yes, I looked for someone who didn't play their sport. Then I asked them if they knew how to speak football. Then I asked the other student to speak football to them: inglés o espanol.
I circled tiene éxito by asking what a student played then asking if they were successful in their sport this year. If they didn't play a sport (unusual in our school), I asked what they were successful at.
I circled se pelea by asking who they fought with. If the ref makes a bad call, do you fight with the ref? I brought a wrestler and a non-wrestler up (I have a son who used to wrestle, so I know a little about the sport from watching him). I had the wrestler take the non-wrestler down, and then I gave the point to the non-wrestler. I asked if the wrestler fights with the ref over the call. Emphatic yes.
After that, I brought up the video from the day before and did the story about Deb Read (writer and videographer extraordinaire!! You can find her at http://chalkbrd.com/) and asked a story about her. I wanted to point out that although I didn't use actors, I can still ask a story because the students can give me needed information, such as sabe hablar español Deb? Si sabe hablar español, ¿qué enseña? etc. No, it's not info that the students make up, but it is putting them in the storytelling process, and it does keep them focused. It's the teacher's ability to keep them interested that allows them to keep focused on the repetitions, in my opinion.
Wednesday-Thursday (block day--different classes each day): review vocab, written story
I always start the day with a review of the current vocab, which I review simply by gesturing and maybe asking a few questions. I don't spend a lot of time on it unless I feel that they need review on particularly difficult structures. Then I might do more PQA.
After we reviewed the vocab, I introduced the story about the boy who knew how to play lots of instruments but didn't know how to be a friend. I always read the story in Spanish first. I have a smartboard and the story is on the board (24-pt font, if you care :) ). If the students aren't familiar with a word--it's amazing how a word can be learned just by using it over and over in a story but not teaching it--I write it over the word so they have immediate translation. I teach Sp 2 and I need to do less and less translation. At the beginning of the year it would be a word or two per paragraph. Now it might be a word or two per story. Then they read the story. If I have time, I circle, but often a story takes up the whole period, so I don't.
Friday: review yesterday's story, student story
Once again, the day begins with vocab review. After that, I retold the block day story. I don't start with a full retell. I ask the story all the way through. Usually the story is in the past tenses, but this time it was in the present, so I made sure to retell it in the past.
John knew how to play some instruments, right class? What instruments did he know how to play? Students answer with either full sentences or just instrument names--their choice. It seems that there are some who really want to be proficient, and they take the extra effort. It's not my call, it's theirs. I asked the story from beginning to end. Then I ask it again, this time totally either fill in the blanks or true/false (John wanted to be successful, so he formed a _______. John knew how to play the piano, right?). Then I went into English.
Our school is going into common assessments, and so we have agreed that all classes will use the same writing rubric. Thank God for Joe Neilson! He understands the proficiency that's attainable by the different levels, so he has taken the AP language writing rubric and given us a grading scale and full explanation of what to look for and what the numbers of the scale mean. Yes, I teach with Joe Neilson. He actually is in the classroom next to mine. You may be suitably impressed :). This was my class' first time with this rubric, so I explained to them the difference between what we have done and what we will do.
I guess I should say here that this emphasis on writing is not necessarily TPRS. I know that there will be an assessment at the end of the year, so I work all year to get my students ready. From the beginning of the year, we work on the difference between pret and imp. I don't take a lot of time, but I do keep drilling the idea that imp is longer hablaba vs habló. I am a big one for mnemonics, so I remind them that it's longer because it's not perfect so it has to try harder. I show a movie every block day, and the first one I show is Cinco Amigas. I show it not so much for the culture as because the girls are very different from one another, the story has lots of action, and I can get a lot of mileage out of that. The students have to come up with three descriptions of a scene and three things that happened during the scene. It's interesting to me that the students have more problems with actions than with descriptions. For example--John wanted a dog comes up as an action. I have to remind them that feelings aren't actions. The idea seems new to them. In my opinion, the majority of student issues with writing (aside from the obvious pret-imp issues) comes about because they really don't know how to write in English either.
I don't use the AP rubric until late third quarter. I start with a very easy rubric--pret/imp. If they use the correct form, they get credit. In other words, a student who writes John iban a la tienda (John they were going to the beach) gets credit. The only time you don't get credit is if you use present tense. I know--not TPRS. But it does open some eyes. If I didn't have this writing emphasis, I wouldn't start this till later in the year. I know all about the affective filter. However, I do writing so seldom that it doesn't seem to make a difference. I don't make them responsible for anything until I start emphasizing it. After the él form, we go to ellos, then yo and nosotros. (third person singular and plural and 1st person singular and plural). I don't really emphasize the 2nd person in stories--it's not natural to me--I do that in PQA. In the second semester I start emphasizing the noun-verb correlation (correct person) and the noun-modifier correlation, but they're just notified, not held accountable. I don't want to overwhelm them, but I start marking their papers to make them aware.
So it goes until this point in the year. Now, in English, I tell them that they are now responsible for EVERYTHING--make sure that you read your papers before you turn them in. By year's end, they will have done 4 papers. The first paper is a baseline. You can't get below a C. Classwork grade. The second paper is graded as classwork, but you get what you earn. The third is a quiz grade and the fourth is an exam grade. There's actually a fifth--part of the final. I tell them that I want to see improvement. If you go from a 2 to a 3, you're fine. If you go from a 3 to a 2, you need to see me. The students are given an explanation of the rubric and allowed to correct their work. I get a lot of students in for tutoring this way.
My school has two tracks--honors and regular. FL is unusual in that the student can start in one and go to the other. I teach regular 2 and from there, the student can go to 3 or 3H. So I give slightly different assignments.
If a student is going to Spanish 3, they are to retell the story as closely as possible to mine. They are to keep it in the 2 past tenses. They do not have to go into present unless they choose to.
If a student is going to 3H, they are to write a similar story using the same target vocab. They may not retell my story. They must keep primarily to the past tenses, but they must use a minimum of two lines of dialog using present tense.
I just started grading, and most students are getting 2s and 3s--not mastering basic expressions. That's very common at this point. Some are getting 5s--excellent--a 6 is the highest you can get in 2nd year. I know that some of you might be interested in the rubrics and the explanation of numbering--comment here with your email or email me and I'll send you the forms on Monday. DO NOT go to Sirena. I can't use FB at school and I don't have the rubric at home. My email is meggiev777@yahoo.com or meggiev7777@gmail.com .
By the way, let me know if you want to see my student writing. Some are great; some are not. I'd be happy to share, but only if you're interested.
Hope that clarifies things. I know that writing is confusing for the newbie. Hope this helps.
I thought that you might like to see the sequence of events from PQA to oral story to written story to story that the students write. Some that are new might be interested.
Monday: I showed a video by +Deb Read, Chalkbrd.com. She makes videos in Spanish and French. This one was about her dog, Renny. It really had nothing to do with the vocab for the week, but it set up Tuesday's activity.
Tuesday: New vocab: sabe (hablar), tiene éxito, se pelea.
First I started by gesturing the words. I then asked students what sports they knew how to play. I have lots of football players, so I concentrated on them. I would find a football player and ask if they knew how to play (sabe jugar) their sport. Then I would ask if they knew how to speak their sport--I gave the example that everything has its own language. I know how to speak music (yo sé hablar la música) allegro, andante, moderato, etc. Once they get it, I asked them again. If they said yes, I looked for someone who didn't play their sport. Then I asked them if they knew how to speak football. Then I asked the other student to speak football to them: inglés o espanol.
I circled tiene éxito by asking what a student played then asking if they were successful in their sport this year. If they didn't play a sport (unusual in our school), I asked what they were successful at.
I circled se pelea by asking who they fought with. If the ref makes a bad call, do you fight with the ref? I brought a wrestler and a non-wrestler up (I have a son who used to wrestle, so I know a little about the sport from watching him). I had the wrestler take the non-wrestler down, and then I gave the point to the non-wrestler. I asked if the wrestler fights with the ref over the call. Emphatic yes.
After that, I brought up the video from the day before and did the story about Deb Read (writer and videographer extraordinaire!! You can find her at http://chalkbrd.com/) and asked a story about her. I wanted to point out that although I didn't use actors, I can still ask a story because the students can give me needed information, such as sabe hablar español Deb? Si sabe hablar español, ¿qué enseña? etc. No, it's not info that the students make up, but it is putting them in the storytelling process, and it does keep them focused. It's the teacher's ability to keep them interested that allows them to keep focused on the repetitions, in my opinion.
Wednesday-Thursday (block day--different classes each day): review vocab, written story
I always start the day with a review of the current vocab, which I review simply by gesturing and maybe asking a few questions. I don't spend a lot of time on it unless I feel that they need review on particularly difficult structures. Then I might do more PQA.
After we reviewed the vocab, I introduced the story about the boy who knew how to play lots of instruments but didn't know how to be a friend. I always read the story in Spanish first. I have a smartboard and the story is on the board (24-pt font, if you care :) ). If the students aren't familiar with a word--it's amazing how a word can be learned just by using it over and over in a story but not teaching it--I write it over the word so they have immediate translation. I teach Sp 2 and I need to do less and less translation. At the beginning of the year it would be a word or two per paragraph. Now it might be a word or two per story. Then they read the story. If I have time, I circle, but often a story takes up the whole period, so I don't.
Friday: review yesterday's story, student story
Once again, the day begins with vocab review. After that, I retold the block day story. I don't start with a full retell. I ask the story all the way through. Usually the story is in the past tenses, but this time it was in the present, so I made sure to retell it in the past.
John knew how to play some instruments, right class? What instruments did he know how to play? Students answer with either full sentences or just instrument names--their choice. It seems that there are some who really want to be proficient, and they take the extra effort. It's not my call, it's theirs. I asked the story from beginning to end. Then I ask it again, this time totally either fill in the blanks or true/false (John wanted to be successful, so he formed a _______. John knew how to play the piano, right?). Then I went into English.
Our school is going into common assessments, and so we have agreed that all classes will use the same writing rubric. Thank God for Joe Neilson! He understands the proficiency that's attainable by the different levels, so he has taken the AP language writing rubric and given us a grading scale and full explanation of what to look for and what the numbers of the scale mean. Yes, I teach with Joe Neilson. He actually is in the classroom next to mine. You may be suitably impressed :). This was my class' first time with this rubric, so I explained to them the difference between what we have done and what we will do.
I guess I should say here that this emphasis on writing is not necessarily TPRS. I know that there will be an assessment at the end of the year, so I work all year to get my students ready. From the beginning of the year, we work on the difference between pret and imp. I don't take a lot of time, but I do keep drilling the idea that imp is longer hablaba vs habló. I am a big one for mnemonics, so I remind them that it's longer because it's not perfect so it has to try harder. I show a movie every block day, and the first one I show is Cinco Amigas. I show it not so much for the culture as because the girls are very different from one another, the story has lots of action, and I can get a lot of mileage out of that. The students have to come up with three descriptions of a scene and three things that happened during the scene. It's interesting to me that the students have more problems with actions than with descriptions. For example--John wanted a dog comes up as an action. I have to remind them that feelings aren't actions. The idea seems new to them. In my opinion, the majority of student issues with writing (aside from the obvious pret-imp issues) comes about because they really don't know how to write in English either.
I don't use the AP rubric until late third quarter. I start with a very easy rubric--pret/imp. If they use the correct form, they get credit. In other words, a student who writes John iban a la tienda (John they were going to the beach) gets credit. The only time you don't get credit is if you use present tense. I know--not TPRS. But it does open some eyes. If I didn't have this writing emphasis, I wouldn't start this till later in the year. I know all about the affective filter. However, I do writing so seldom that it doesn't seem to make a difference. I don't make them responsible for anything until I start emphasizing it. After the él form, we go to ellos, then yo and nosotros. (third person singular and plural and 1st person singular and plural). I don't really emphasize the 2nd person in stories--it's not natural to me--I do that in PQA. In the second semester I start emphasizing the noun-verb correlation (correct person) and the noun-modifier correlation, but they're just notified, not held accountable. I don't want to overwhelm them, but I start marking their papers to make them aware.
So it goes until this point in the year. Now, in English, I tell them that they are now responsible for EVERYTHING--make sure that you read your papers before you turn them in. By year's end, they will have done 4 papers. The first paper is a baseline. You can't get below a C. Classwork grade. The second paper is graded as classwork, but you get what you earn. The third is a quiz grade and the fourth is an exam grade. There's actually a fifth--part of the final. I tell them that I want to see improvement. If you go from a 2 to a 3, you're fine. If you go from a 3 to a 2, you need to see me. The students are given an explanation of the rubric and allowed to correct their work. I get a lot of students in for tutoring this way.
My school has two tracks--honors and regular. FL is unusual in that the student can start in one and go to the other. I teach regular 2 and from there, the student can go to 3 or 3H. So I give slightly different assignments.
If a student is going to Spanish 3, they are to retell the story as closely as possible to mine. They are to keep it in the 2 past tenses. They do not have to go into present unless they choose to.
If a student is going to 3H, they are to write a similar story using the same target vocab. They may not retell my story. They must keep primarily to the past tenses, but they must use a minimum of two lines of dialog using present tense.
I just started grading, and most students are getting 2s and 3s--not mastering basic expressions. That's very common at this point. Some are getting 5s--excellent--a 6 is the highest you can get in 2nd year. I know that some of you might be interested in the rubrics and the explanation of numbering--comment here with your email or email me and I'll send you the forms on Monday. DO NOT go to Sirena. I can't use FB at school and I don't have the rubric at home. My email is meggiev777@yahoo.com or meggiev7777@gmail.com .
By the way, let me know if you want to see my student writing. Some are great; some are not. I'd be happy to share, but only if you're interested.
Hope that clarifies things. I know that writing is confusing for the newbie. Hope this helps.
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